Merck Hosts 2019 Investor Day

• Momentum Across Key Pillars Expected to Drive Strong Revenue Growth Every Year Over the Next Five Years, Including 2023 – the Year of Greatest Anticipated Impact of JANUVIA® (sitagliptin) Loss of Exclusivity (LOE)
• Meaningful Operating Margin Expansion Expected, Driven by Disciplined Expense Management and Operating Model Evolution
• Broad Mid-to-Late Stage Pipeline Opportunities in Areas of Significant Unmet Medical Need to Drive Leadership Over the Next Decade, Including the Potential for More Than 50 New Indications in Oncology Over the Next Five Years
• Reinvigorated Early Pipeline Efforts Spanning a Diverse Set of Disease Areas to Deliver Important Medical Advances

KENILWORTH, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–$MRK #MRK–At a meeting with the investment community today, Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, will outline how its science-led strategy and broad pipeline of promising transformative therapies and vaccines will position the company to deliver strong growth and shareholder value over the long term.

“Merck is very well positioned to pursue its mission to save and improve lives,” said Kenneth C. Frazier, Merck chairman and chief executive officer. “Over the last five years, we have revitalized our focus on research in order to invent, develop and commercialize valuable and innovative medicines and vaccines that address many of the world’s most pressing health challenges.”

Frazier continued, “We are driving continued momentum across our business and expect our current product portfolio to deliver strong growth over the next five years. Our science-led approach to R&D, managed by our outstanding team of scientists globally, continues to deliver a broad set of pipeline opportunities from discovery to clinical development that give us confidence in our sustainable growth prospects and demonstrate that we are well positioned to continue our success into the future.”

During the event, members of Merck’s leadership team will outline the company’s strategic priorities to generate value for patients and shareholders. These include how Merck will:

• Unlock Global Commercial Potential of the Portfolio. In recent years, the company has executed on its opportunities around the world, leveraging its global strength and scale. The company expects to continue its momentum and deliver strong revenue growth every year in the next five years, including 2023 – the year of greatest anticipated impact of the JANUVIA LOE – driven by demand for its portfolio of innovative products across oncology, vaccines, hospital acute care and animal health.
• Drive Margin Expansion While Investing in the Pipeline. Merck will continue to evolve its operating model to build a leaner, more efficient organization. These efforts are aimed at maximizing revenue potential and delivering meaningful operating margin expansion, while allowing the company to invest in the most value-creating growth opportunities.
• Advance a Robust Pipeline to Sustain Leadership Over the Next Decade. The company has a broad portfolio of innovative assets that will enable it to build upon its leadership in oncology and vaccines. In addition, the company is making investments in infectious diseases, cardiovascular medicine and other areas of high unmet need.
• Deliver Next Generation of Scientific Breakthroughs. Merck’s scientists are leveraging knowledge gained from experience with the company’s leading immuno-oncology franchise to advance their understanding of human biology in many other areas of research. The company’s strengthened scientific leadership and new cutting-edge discovery research hubs located in key biopharma research communities will help deliver important new clinical candidates that will benefit patients over the next decade and beyond.

2019 Investor Day Presenters

Investor Day will feature presentations from the following Merck executives:

• Ken Frazier, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
• Rob Davis, Executive Vice President, Global Services, and Chief Financial Officer
• Frank Clyburn, Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer
• Rick DeLuca, Executive Vice President and President, Merck Animal Health
• Dr. Roger Perlmutter, Executive Vice President and President, Merck Research Laboratories
• Mike Nally, Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer
• Dr. Roy Baynes, Senior Vice President, Clinical Development, and Chief Medical Officer
• Dr. Dean Li, Senior Vice President, Discovery Sciences and Translational Medicine
• Dr. Fiona Marshall, Vice President, Neuroscience Discovery, and Head of Discovery Research, MRL UK
• Dr. Daria Hazuda, Vice President, Infectious Diseases Discovery and Chief Scientific Officer, MRL Exploratory Science Center Cambridge

The full biographies of the speakers can be found at www.merck.com/investorday.

Webcast Details

Merck invites shareholders, the investment community and the media to listen to a live webcast of the Investor Day event today from 8:30 am to 12:00 pm EDT. To join the webcast and view related materials, including presentations and speaker biographies, please visit the Merck investor relations website at www.merck.com/investorday. A replay and transcript will be available shortly after the completion of the live webcast.

About Merck

For more than a century, Merck, a leading global biopharmaceutical company known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases. Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, Merck continues to be at the forefront of research to advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and communities around the world – including cancer, cardio-metabolic diseases, emerging animal diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and infectious diseases including HIV and Ebola. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statement of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA

This news release of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA (the “company”) includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company’s management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. There can be no guarantees with respect to pipeline products that the products will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that they will prove to be commercially successful. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and health care legislation in the United States and internationally; global trends toward health care cost containment; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approval; the company’s ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of the company’s patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions.

The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the company’s 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) available at the SEC’s Internet site (www.sec.gov).

Contacts

Media:

Jenn Mauer

(908) 740-1801

Jess Fine

(908) 740-1707

Pamela Eisele

(267) 305-3558

Investors:

Teri Loxam

(908) 740-1986

Peter Dannenbaum

(908) 740-1037

Michael DeCarbo

(908) 740-1807